Ionocitx Kharast
Ionocitx Kharast'' Among the eastlands there are few dens of villainy and cruelty that can compare to the once dwarven ruins of Ionoctix Kharast. Rather than being filled with the serene quiet of long forgotten secrets and the fruits of ancient artisans and stonemasons, the halls echo with the shouts and violence of tieflings and their ‘merchandise’, and the endless hammering of slaves repairing the city even now. The ruins deep underground inside of the mountain range host the grand city, in which every possible variant of tiefling is both represented and is a member of the faction comprised entirely of their own breed. Each faction is utterly hostile to one another due to both generations of racially motivated violence and a fervent desire to conquer the city for themselves, be it either to fulfil their leader’s plot of revenge, end the senseless violence by some means or simply drive up profits by cornering the market. Politics Aside from tieflings, there is a menagerie of races dwelling within the city as slaves; either to be sold, or already in service to their masters. Each faction’s primary source of income and profit is this trade, and more often than not these are stolen and passed around continually as spoils of war within the underground, whenever the fighting reaches a certain level. It is not uncommon for a slave to have been taken in by one faction, and to have then been owned by three or four different slavers before finally being sold on. Despite its apparent state of strife, the city only truly sees skirmishes slightly more often than most. Each faction is too wise to risk open war when things are as locked as they are, due to very few alliances having ever been formed between the groups that were not just as quickly broken. None wish to risk their own position and power, meaning that Ionoctx Kharast is in a curious stalemate, with the occasional true fight breaking out that the leaders are quick to contain. Religion Devil worship is by far the most practiced form of religion within the walls, not including whatever the various slaves may pray to. The exact form of which and which devil in particular is worshipped varies from faction to faction, but there are seldom few within the stone walls that differ from the norm. Fewer still are those that survive. History Despite its gruesome reputation, there are very few times recorded in history that the city has ever meaningfully interacted with another civilisation: largely due to the fact that it has yet to establish a coherent form of leadership and is more of a collection of various clans of tiefling. The city was founded when the roving tribes stumbled upon the dwarven ruins within the mountains, and drove out or enslaved any that were unfortunate enough to still be living inside. Once there, the groups quickly set about claiming as much territory for themselves as possible, as well as putting their slaves to work refurbishing the underground for its new purpose as a slave market. By far the hardest driven, and most common type of slave at the time, were the minotaur. These slaves provided the backbone of the workforce employed by the tiefling clans, and even despite their masters’ hostility toward one another the slaves saw themselves as one people. It did not take long for the factions to begin fighting amongst themselves, while the slaves that were not bred for combat were kept at work. There were early attempts at escape by either individuals or small groups in hopes that the fighting would distract the guards, but even with their reduced numbers the tiefling enforcers were enough to hunt down and recapture the escapees. Few made a second attempt. The minotaur, on the other hand, moved as a herd and held an odd loyalty to one another: largely due to the fact that they were almost always kept within the same area. Their natural teamwork and sheer strength made them able to perform tasks that other ragtag groups of slaves simply could not, and construction was a priority more than ever since it seemed that the fighting would not stop any time soon. The importance of this fact could not be overstated, as the guards were now stretched so thin that they could barely monitor the slaves properly, meaning that several minotaur were able to not only hatch a plan, but also spread it extremely easily among themselves. On a morning where the fighting within the city was at its heaviest, a few of the minotaur suddenly stopped work. In the blink of an eye, the pickaxes in their hands were turned on both the chains binding them and on the few guards around them, quickly inspiring other slaves to follow their example. With the conflict outside so fierce, organising any kind of group to put down these slaves in time would be an almost impossible errand due to logistics and the fact it would risk at least one faction’s chance at victory, and so the slaves fell upon patrols or counter strikes that were far too weak to fell them. Near every slave that they passed on their crusade outside was freed and joined their cause, brutally forcing their way out of the mountains and overtaking several ships outside. With the tieflings still behind them, albeit incompetent and still fighting amongst themselves, the minotaur and the few other slaves that had joined them disembarked on their stolen vessels. The slavers were unable to catch them and reclaim their lost workforce, and the fighting inside soon ground to a halt in fear of all the factions losing yet more of their profits. The city remains, to this day, crippled compared to the glory it once boasted when the minotaur were still enslaved. Despite driving what remains of their workforce harder than ever over the past generations, it is unlikely that Ionocitx Kharast will ever reach the lofty heights and potential it once held before the minotaur’s uprising.